A Night of Grammy Upsets: Arcade Fire Beats Lady Gaga to Win Album of the Year

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Edwin Butler of Arcade Fire holds up the Grammy for Album of the Year for "The Suburbs" at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards (REUTERS / Lucy Nicholson)

Lady Gaga’s egg incubation was just the beginning when it came to surprises at this year’s Grammy Awards. And Gaga didn’t have it all her own way.

Despite Bieber mania, Justin Bieber’s buzz fizzled just a tad at the awards ceremony. Jazz singer Esperanza Spalding beat out both Bieber and Drake to win best new artist, becoming the first jazz artist to win the award. She proclaimed, “I take this honor to heart so sincerely, and I will do my damndest to make a whole lot of great music for all of you.”

(More on NewsFeed: Read about whether Lady Gaga and Madonna comparisons are fair)

But in a shocking move that’s almost Gaga-worthy, the ultimate upset came at the end of the night when it came to the coveted album of the year. Instead of Lady Gaga, Katy Perry or Eminem taking the ultimate prize, the honor went to Canadian band Arcade Fire. Their album, The Suburbs, snatched the top spot, which marks the first time a resolutely indie band has won in this category. And they certainly seemed surprised with one band member’s first words on stage being the rather succinct, “What the hell?”

(More on TIME.com: See Arcade Fire on TIME’s top 10 albums list.)

Country trio Lady Antebellum made out as the biggest winner of the night, walking away with the most trophies. The group won five awards, including best country album. At the end of the night, some of music’s big names weren’t entirely disappointed either. Eminem, Lady Gaga and Muse did not walk away empty-headed, winning the best albums in their respective genres.

In the end, it still wasn’t enough to wrestle album of the year away from Arcade Fire.

(More on TIME.com: See pictures of the Grammy performances.)